well I learnt something new today

[fng]

RPE ?

 

What is it ? perhaps i'm getting to old for all this mumbo

 

Google to the rescue

 

How hard was that?

Probably the single most important auto-regulatory tool you can use is RPE.  RPE stands for “Rate of Perceived Exertion” (a term that comes from endurance research).  It basically just means, “How hard did it feel?”

In most cases, you probably use a primitive version of this already.  If you note a set as having felt particularly hard or easy, that is in essence RPE.  But we can refine it a bit more and it becomes much more useful.  Consider the following chart:

RPE

   Description

10

Maximum effort.  No reps left in the tank.

9

Could have done one more rep.

8

Could have done two or three more reps

7

More than 3 reps left.  Bar speed was fast if maximum effort was applied.

6

Bar speed was fast with only moderate effort

*RPE’s below 6 aren’t important for strength training purposes.

**We use a 1-10 scale (clearly focusing on 6+) because there was a precedent for it and a 1-10 scale is intuitively understood.

So now when you finish a set of squats, you say to yourself, “Yeah, that was hard but I could have done 1 more rep.”  Great.  You would annotate that as “@9” (meaning a 9 RPE).  This is very easy to compare to other work that you’ve done in the past.

If I write, “That felt heavy,” two weeks later I will have forgotten what exactly that means.  And if I repeat the same or similar work, it will be very difficult to see if I improved or not.  On the other hand, if I say that set was “@9”, then that communicates a more precise level of effort.  And if next week’s work is “@8”, then I know without a doubt I’m progressing.

[Hu Gh]

No offence but this system is stupid. If you wana know if youre improving just try lift heavier same reps or go for more reps

[GyzzBrah]

That's pretty cool. Started using them with wookies program but never really logged them lel. Be a good way to track progress, maybe I could aim to take an existing weight I find hard and make it go down in the rpe scale. Just maxed out on squats rpe 10, (115kg) Gonna see If I can make that into an rpe 7 by next meso

[teamfatboy]

Actually, RPE is a widely used technique, with some of the best lifters in the country tracking their training by perceived effort.

If you know that four weeks ago you squatted a double at 200 and it felt like 10/10, but today it felt like 8/10, that's useful information.

[tyreguy]

Sweet now I know what it means when I see this on other peoples logs.

[Hu Gh]

Actually, RPE is a widely used technique, with some of the best lifters in the country tracking their training by perceived effort.

If you know that four weeks ago you squatted a double at 200 and it felt like 10/10, but today it felt like 8/10, that's useful information.

Be more useful to squat max reps (10 rpe right?) at 200 or do a double at a higher weight. Otherwise you just guessing how many extra reps you can do..just a guess. Idc who does it (from what ive seen some pretty shit lifters write their rpe too) I still think its stupid. But hey thats just me. I dont log workouts or anything because its waste of time imo and my memory is good.